Camp Kimama () is an international network of

summer camp A summer camp, also known as a sleepaway camp or residential camp, is a supervised overnight program for children conducted during the summer vacation from school in many countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer residential camps ...

s, with camps in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, and offices in Israel and

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

History

Camp Kimama was founded in Israel in 2004 by Ronen Hoffman with the intention of bringing American-style

Jewish summer camps A Jewish summer camp is a summer camp dedicated to Jewish communities. In the United States these camps grew in popularity in the years after World War II and the Holocaust as an effort by American Jewish leaders to preserve and produce authentic ...

to Israel. At the time, most Israeli summer camps ran for two or three days and were run by

youth movements The following is a list of youth organizations. A youth organization is a type of organization with a focus upon providing activities and socialization for minors. In this list, most organizations are international unless noted otherwise. ...

such as Noam on land belonging to

JNF The Jewish National Fund (JNF; , ''Keren Kayemet LeYisrael''; previously , ''Ha Fund HaLeumi'') is a non-profit organizationProfessor Alon Tal, The Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, The Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben Gurion ...

/KKL. The camp became the first international summer camp in Israel, bringing participants aged 6–17, from 40 different countries to Israel. The first summer, 140 campers attended (60 international) and in 2021 there were over 6,500 campers (2,000 were international). All of the Kimama camps in Israel are run under the supervision of the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

. The first Kimama camp was established in 2004 in Michmoret, a coastal moshav in central Israel within the seaside youth village Mevo’ot Yam. Kimama now operates three camps in Israel, in addition to camps in the United States and

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. The camp's name, Kimama, comes from the word for “butterfly” in the

Shoshone The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ), also known by the endonym Newe, are an Native Americans in the United States, Indigenous people of the United States with four large cultural/linguistic divisions: * Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming * Northern Shoshon ...

Native American dialect. For Kimama, the butterfly symbolizes freedom, creation, and development. Avishay Nachon, the CEO of Kimama, stated that, like the impacts of development, “the flapping of a butterfly’s wings on one side of the world makes ripples on the other side.” Specifically, it represents process-based experience, an experience of development from one stage to another in life. File:Kimama 2012 - original.jpg, Camp Kimama’s second logo, from 2012, which highlighted its connection to Israel File:Kimama 2022 logo.png, Kimama’s current logo, which it began using in 2022

Educational approach

Kimama's educational approach focuses on integrating recreational activities with important skills and values. In particular, the system is based on five key values: 1) “The Freedom to Be Me:” An environment of freedom for campers where they can express their own individuality and personality without being subject to criticism or judgment. 2) “International Israeli-Jewish Encounter:” Connecting Jewish and Israeli students from around the world, as well as improving communication skills in a variety of languages. 3) “Personal Quest – Transitions:” Focusing on encouraging independence and self-confidence is a core component of Kimama's approach. 4) “Values and Belonging:” Connecting Jewish youth from around the world to Israel and to each other, as well as focusing on the long-term experience of summer camp. 5) “Spirit of Adventure:” Through a focus on outdoor and “meaningful activities,” the camp encourages campers to explore and push their boundaries. The location of Kimama's camps along Israel's coast allows for sea-based activities such as sailing, surfing, and windsurfing, and gives campers access to the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

, one of Israel's primary sources of tourism.

Camps in Israel

Kimama Michmoret

Kimama Michmoret, the original camp, was established in 2004 in Michmoret, a coastal moshav in central Israel, within the seaside youth village of Mevo’ot Yam.

Kimama Galil

Kimama Galil opened in 2006 at Kibbutz Amir, within the Eynot Yarden school in the upper

Galilee Galilee (; ; ; ) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon consisting of two parts: the Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and the Lower Galilee (, ; , ). ''Galilee'' encompasses the area north of the Mount Carmel-Mount Gilboa ridge and ...

. It operated for 7 years until it closed in 2013.

Kimama Galim

Kimama Galim opened in 2013 as Kimama Carmel near

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

in the Kfar Galim Youth Village. In 2016, it changed its name to Kimama Galim after the

youth village A youth village () is a boarding school model first developed in Mandatory Palestine in the 1930s to care for groups of children and teenagers fleeing the Nazis. Henrietta Szold and Recha Freier were the pioneers in this sphere, known as youth ...

where it resides. Kimama Galim now operates an overnight camp and a day camp.

Kimama Hof

Kimama Hof was established in 2014 in the Hadassah Neurim Youth Village, near the city of

Netanya Netanya () () or Natanya (), is a city in the "Planet Bekasi" Central District (Israel), Setanyahu of Israel, Israel BAB ih, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa, between the Poleg stre ...

with an emphasis on nature and sea activities.

Kimama Tech

In 2016, a new camp, Kimama Hub, was added in Galim Youth Village for campers interested in the

startup A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship includes all new businesses including self-employment and businesses that do not intend to ...

and

entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entrepreneu ...

fields, as well as technology and media. In 2017, the camp changed its name to Kimama Tech. The camp operated for three summers, closing in 2018.

Kimama-Bereisheet

Kimama Bereisheet opened in 2019 as a joint project between Kimama and Bereisheet, a

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

non-profit that works to build ties between Israel and the American Jewish community.

Other Israel Programs

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Kimama opened two new programs: Kimama Van, a one-week road trip, and Kimama Race, a weeklong countrywide competition. In 2021, Kimama started its Ambassador program. Kimama Ambassador combines two Kimama programs — Michmoret and Kimama Van — and is targeted at Jewish teens from North America. The Ambassador program is now funded through a grant fro
RootOne
which allows children from non-

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

schools in the U.S. to experience the program at a reduced cost.

Camps in Europe

In 2007, Kimama began organizing winter camps in

and, for the first time, established a ski camp in the village of Natz, in

. The goal of this camp was to provide youth from Israel camping opportunities during the

Passover Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday and one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It celebrates the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Biblical Egypt, Egypt. According to the Book of Exodus, God in ...

and

Hanukkah Hanukkah (, ; ''Ḥănukkā'' ) is a Jewish holidays, Jewish festival commemorating the recovery of Jerusalem and subsequent rededication of the Second Temple at the beginning of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire in the 2nd ce ...

vacations. In 2017, Camp Kimama participated in an experimental farm-based incubator program a
H-FARM
near

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

. Kimama

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

opened in 2017, on Campus Cerdanya, a forest resort in the

Spanish Pyrenees The Pyrenees are a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. They extend nearly from their union with the Cantabrian Mountains to Cap de Creus on the Mediterranean coast, reaching a maximum elevation of at the peak of Aneto. ...

Camps in the United States

In 2011, Kimama established a summer camp in

, to serve the large community of Israeli-Americans living in the

. The one-year pilot program was run under the auspices of Kinder Ring summer camp. In all, 120 campers participated in the program, 60 of which came from Israel, and 60 from the United States, mainly from the New York and

area. A few years later, a second pilot program, Kimama New York, was founded in conjunction with

Camp Tel Yehudah Camp Tel Yehudah is the official national teen leadership camp of Young Judaea, a Zionist youth movement in North America. It is located in Barryville, New York, and provides immersive, summer experiences for Jewish teenagers from ages 13– ...

. The program brings together Jewish teens from Israel and the United States to Kimama_Half_Moon

participate in a variety of skill-based programs. Kimama now operates two camps in the New York area: Kimama 14Y Day Camp in

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...

, and Kimama Bereisheet in

Bergen County Bergen County is the List of counties in New Jersey, most populous County (United States), county in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Great Barrington region of the Berkshires. Camp Half Moon opened in

Monterey, Massachusetts Monterey is a small town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,095 at the 2020 census. History Prior to settlement by European-Am ...

, in 1922. It is named after the

Halve Maen ''Halve Maen'' (; ) was a Dutch East India Company ''jacht'' (similar to a carrack) that sailed into what is now New York Harbor in September 1609. She had a length of 21 metres and was commissioned by the VOC Chamber of Amsterdam in the Dutch ...

, a 17th century Dutch trading ship that carried timber from the site where the camp is now located. Kimama has said that it plans to preserve the camp’s original history, while adding an Israeli touch. When Kimama Half Moon reopens for summer 2022 after an extensive renovation, it will operate a day camp and an overnight camp, both of which are co-ed.

Community engagement

A core component of Kimama's approach is to give back to the communities it operates in. Beginning in 2009, Kimama began Camp Sababa, Israel's first Burn Camp, in cooperation with Schneider Hospital for Children. The camp supports children who are victims of burn injuries and helps them develop confidence and positive self-image. Kimama also participates in fundraisers and supports local programming in the communities in which it operates. The winner of the Kimama Race program has the opportunity to donate to a charity of their choice. In past years, Kimama campers have chosen to donate to Shanti House, Make-A-Wish, and ELEM.

References

{{reflist

External links

Israel & Gaza: A new experience air-raid sirens
Jewish summer camps Educational organizations based in Israel Science and technology in Israel Jewish summer camps in the United States Summer camps Jewish organizations established in 2004